During the planning of our Arts & Culture visit to Shenkeng, the Tofu Town of Taiwan, there were some doubts in our minds as to whether or not it was a good idea. With dozens of specialized tofu-meal restaurants in business in the heat of the high noon and the smell of tofu at full force in the air – will it be too difficult for our ladies to bear? Yet tofu is essential to our Chinese food culture, so it was a definite must to introduce this local delicacy, especially to our foreign members in the club. It turned out to be a wonderful experience exploring the historical alleys of the newly renovated Old Street and Shenkeng Town that once prospered from its coalmines, tea plantations, and rice and blue dye trade.
Susan, Vivienne, Olivia and I went on a preliminary expedition to Shenkeng in early May. We started the excursion at Mr. Kao Yi-Tsai’s tofu DIY workshop first – the place was neat and decorated with well-preserved straw/hay capes that farmers wore in the past, with scroll of Chinese calligraphy and pictures hanging on the walls. He told us that he also grows and sells his own teas, which he will offere our members for a taste. Then he briefed us on the DIY procedures for making tofu, and handed us an instruction manual – he was very confident about his DIY program! There were no hesitations among us – we took him up on the lesson!
How to Make Tofu (DIY)
- Take 400g of dried soya beans, and soak them in water for 6-8 hours.
- Add some distilled cold water to the rehydrated beans, use blender and blend until it looks like a smooth shake.
- Filter out the gritty bits of soybeans to get pure 2000cc soya milk.Cook the soya milk until it boils, then lower the temperature to 85˚C and keep cooking. To make sure it doesn't burn at the bottom, stir and watch closely.
- Dissolve 5g of bittern (bitter-tasting solution from salt, served as coagulator) in 100cc cold water.
- Add salty solution into the soya milk, stirring thoroughly. Let it rest for 10 minutes, and it should start to curdle and become soya beancurd.
- Place a cotton cloth over the mold, pour in the beancurd, and apply pressure evenly to create tofu!
We thought about bringing our members to see the Yung An Estate, a Class 3 historic site built by the prominent Huang clan in 1912-1915, but they only open on Sunday and some National Holidays. I volunteered to come back on Sunday.
We strolled up and down the Old Street, scouting for interesting shops to introduce to our members. It is a busy area booming with all sorts of stores – a Cordon Bleu trained pastry chef’s bakeshop, a traditional hut selling famous Guo Jin-shan ‘s freshly roasted peanuts-and-nuts brittle squares, handmade soap shop, nostalgia variety stores, wood and bamboo craft shops, and several teashops that sold Shenkeng’s famous Wen Shan Bao Zhong Tea. A highlight was an inconspicuously small restaurant that claims to be the first ever to sell tofu ice cream – and it was an amazing surprise to discover that the owner was Yen Sung-Tau, a renowned painter who has resided in Shenkeng for over 30 years. Needless to say, there were also a wide array of food stands and restaurants for tofu delicacies, which beckoned at us and reminded us that it was time to find a place to eat! A friend had informed Vivienne that Guan-Fu Lo restaurant was one the best, so we decided to give it a try. Over lunch, we discussed what to include in the menu for our members. After a hearty meal, we went to check out the many bus lines that arrive to Shenkeng and were delighted to find out that it only takes about 20 minutes to get here from Taipei City Hall.
My scouting trip to the Yung-an Estate was a bit disappointing. Though the place went through several renovations, and the government funded 70 million NT$ in 1986 for a major job, all the rooms and hallways are small and cannot accommodate a large group of people. The lady tour guide took us to a dimly lit kitchen to brief us on the history of the Huang Family and this old estate. We were told that there are still Huang family descendants that lived there; it was certainly bizarre to see a washing machine standing in a historical yard.
Later in the week, I called up the Shenkeng Agricultural Extension Committee, and they told me they could arrange a tour guide and English translator for the Old Street visit. It turned out that there are many interesting things to learn about the Old Street! For instance, they molded some of the sewage covers on the Old Street with Yen Sung-Tau’s paintings, employed nanotechnology to preserve the bricks and walls as well as the architectural details of some of the old houses and temples, etc.
We were all glad that around 40 members signed up for the trip. Tofu DIY was definitely a huge success! We never imagined that freshly made tofu was so delicious, so no wonder some of our members purchased the wooden tofu mold for DIY tofu making at home. Thank you, Vivienne, for bringing up this brilliant idea!
Taipei is still in the midst of the rainy season (so-called plum rain season), so our trip ended with a heavy afternoon shower; but fortunately we were comfortably sitting in the restaurant while waiting for the rain to pass.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Shenkeng Agricultural Extension Committee for their kind support, especially the volunteer guides who earnestly did a great job in promoting Shenkeng! I had a great time and hope our members enjoyed the visit as well!
By Jessica Liu Chia
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